LepNet Development and Project Management

LepNet Development and Project Management

We initiated the LepNet consortium in 2014 through a comprehensive review of more than 200 insect collections [31]. From this solicitation, we brought together 29 museums representing small to large collections across 24 states to actively participate in this community: http://www.lep-net.org/. We have completed self-surveys to better understand the material and curation level of holdings for 86 families of North American Lepidoptera (adults, larvae, DNA, frozen tissue, historic field notes), taxonomic/ecological expertise, informatics, as well as citizen science and outreach capabilities.

Although individual roles are being defined as LepNet grows, we have a full spectrum of personnel to successfully manage LepNet. Neil Cobb will be responsible for all project management. He currently serves as the lead PI for SCAN, the Southwest Collections of Arthropods Network, an arthropod-focused Thematic Collections Network (TCN) [37]. The Symbiota group oversees technical support. In particular, Nico Franz (ASU) [38], Ben Brandt (NAU), Lawrence Gall (Yale), and Merrill Peterson (WWU) lead the digitization and imaging protocols; Jennifer Zaspel (Purdue) and Paul Opler (CSU) will coordinate taxonomic trees; and Anne Basham (ASU) will lead the Education & Outreatch programLepXPLOR. Research coordination responsibilities will be shared by Naomi Pierce (Harvard), Akito Kawahara (McGuire Center for Lepidoptera & Biodiversity) [39], and Lee Dyer (UNR). LepNet also includes Richard Brown (MSU), which hosts the Moth Photographers Group(MPG) [34]; the Bohart Museum, a CalBugparticipant [43]; and creators of the Pacific Northwest Moths project (WWU, OSU, UI) [35].